The main components of a drive train of a motor vehicle are a drive assembly and a transmission, wherein the transmission is connected between the drive assembly and an output drive of the motor vehicle and supplies driving power of the drive assembly at the output drive. The operation of the drive assembly is controlled or regulated by a first control device, specifically an engine control device. The operation of the transmission is controlled or regulated by a second control device, specifically a transmission control device. For this purpose, the engine control device exchanges data with the drive assembly, and the transmission control device exchanges data with the transmission. Furthermore, the engine control device and the transmission control device exchange data with each other.
Transmission control devices known from practice for the control or regulation of a gear change in the transmission of the motor vehicle generate control signals for shift elements of the transmission participating in the execution of the gear change. The shift elements of the transmission can be form-locking shift elements and/or friction shift elements in the form of clutches and/or brakes and/or claws.
Transmission control devices known from practice for the control or regulation of a gear change in the transmission generate control signals for the shift elements participating in the execution of the gear change, such that the gear changes are performed under consideration of topological positive couplings of the drive train without interrupting the driving power at the output drive. This causes relatively long shift times.
With increasing demands on shift dynamics and accordingly increasingly desired shortening of the gear changes, an interruption of the driving power at the output drive must be accepted during the execution of a gear change in the transmission. Up to now, when a control device, particularly a transmission control device, can control or regulate a gear change without interrupting the driving power at the output drive, and also with interruption of the driving power at the output drive, the behavior of the drive train is not comprehensible to the driver. Accordingly, the driver does not comprehend under which conditions, or in which driving situations, a gear change is performed in a transmission with or without interrupting the driving power.